“Cultivate an optimistic mind, use your imagination, always consider alternatives, and dare to believe that you can make possible what others think is impossible,” says Rodolfo Costa, a business man, practical thinker and positive evangelist in his book, Advice My Parents Gave Me.
While this quote is on positive thinking, we need to learn to have practical optimism in solving everyday problems. From finding different alternatives and the finding the best fit, if we feel we have a problem at hand , first we need to understand that there are solutions within us and from our own environment.
Let me take you through the story of Asin who was absolutely happy after she was promoted as team leader. She became the leader of a team of four trainees who had joined two weeks back.
Her challenge
Asin had always performed well in the organization and after three years of hard work, her organisation assigned her the role of a team leader. On the first day of working with her team, everything seemed to be alright. The second day she was a little disappointed because one of the girls, Hema was totally not interested in the job. After one week Asin realised that she had a real problem at hand. She knew very well that she was not going to get the expected results from Hema. She immediately decided to understand and respond, instead of reacting and being negative, she approached the situation with an open and positive mind.
Her approach
Firstly, she approached her immediate supervisor, who unfortunately did not guide her well. Five weeks later, the problem with Hema caused delays in the project. Asin was a person who always approached things very positively. She felt that she needed to take charge of the situation and try to find out how this can be sorted. She met Hema personally in the office counselling room. After a detailed personal interaction she found that Hema had taken this job only because of parental pressure. She wanted to become a journalist.
Asin personally explained to her the career prospects, the growth in the organisation, the learning, etc. She also explained to Hema that if she still wasn’t convinced, then it would be best if she left the company. Asin knew that finding another resource may be difficult, but having a non-performing resource would be even more expensive.
After three days Hema expressed her wish to stay and learn. Asin’s practical optimism helped her find a solution. All you need to do is believe and act with a ‘never-give-up’ attitude.
— kalpana@acl-india.in